| 858 | Rome | Pope Nicholas I strengthens papal authority by declaring that bishops are his delegates and not subject to secular authorities. |
| c. 965 | Denmark | King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark becomes the first Christian king in Scandinavia. Subsequently, Christianity spreads rapidly in Scandinavia. |
| 14 April 1059 | Italy, Holy Roman Empire | A decree governing the election of popes is made in a council held at the Lateran palace by Pope Nicholas II. In future the choice is to be made by the cardinal bishops; secular authorities, including the people of Rome and the Emperor, are allowed only a marginal role. |
| 8 August 1107 | England | King Henry I of England and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, settle their disagreement over the investiture of bishops at the synod of Westminster: Henry agrees to end lay investiture (investiture by a lay ruler). |
| 8 March 1118 | Papal States, Italy, Holy Roman Empire | Emperor Henry V of Germany has Maurice Bourdin, archbishop of Braga, elected as Pope Gregory VIII and installs him in Rome, forcing the recently elected Pope Gelasius II to flee. |
| 18 March–5 April 1123 | Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Poland | Pope Calixtus II holds the first general council of the church in Western Europe (the first Lateran council), which condemns simony (the buying and selling of church benefits) and the marriage of priests. He also sends a legate to complete the organization of the Polish church. |
| 12 July 1174 | England | King Henry II of England does penance at Canterbury for Archbishop Thomas à Becket's murder in 1170. |
| 1187 | Papal States, Italy | Albert of Morra is elected Pope Gregory VIII following the death of Pope Urban III. |
| 5 February 1265 | Papal States, Italy | Guy Foulquoi, the papal legate to England, is elected Pope Clement. |
| November 1517 | Germany | The German religious leader Martin Luther nails his ‘95 Theses’ to the door of his church in Wittenberg, Germany. A challenge to debate, these theses contain a strong denunciation of the practice of selling indulgences (forgiveness for sins), which was being strongly promoted by the Dominican friar Johann Tetzel, who had just arrived in Germany. |
| 26 June–16 July 1519 | Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Saxony | The German Catholic theologian Johann Eck debates grace, free will, the primacy of the pope, and the infallibility of the general council, with the German church reformer Martin Luther and the more radical German reformer Andreas Carlstadt, in a public disputation at Leipzig, in the Electorate of Saxony. |
| 1545–1547 | Italy | The first session of the Council of Trent is held in Trent, Italy. A council of the Roman Catholic Church, it is convened to formulate a response to the spread of Protestantism. Other sessions open in 1551 and 1562. |
| January 1547 | Holy Roman Empire, Tirol, Habsburg Monarchy | A decree of the reforming Catholic Council of Trent in Tirol (present-day Trento, Italy) on the doctrine of justification by faith ends hope of reconciliation with the Lutherans. |
| 8 August 1553 | England | With the accession of Mary I to the throne of England, Roman Catholicism is restored in England and Roman Catholic bishops are reappointed. |
| 23 May 1555 | Rome | The Italian churchman Gian Pietro Carafa is elected Pope Paul IV following the death of Pope Marcellus II. He is pope until 1559. |
| 1559 | Rome | The Italian churchman Giovanni Angelo Medici is elected Pope Pius IV. He is pope until 1565. |
| 1590 | Rome | The Italian churchman Nicolo Sfondrati is elected Pope Gregory XIV. He is pope until 1591. |
| 1591 | Rome | The Italian churchman Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti is elected Pope Innocent IX. He is pope for only two months. |
| 1616 | Poland, Rome | The Copernican belief in a heliocentric (Sun-centred) Solar System is declared false by the Roman Catholic Church. |
| 1644 | Rome | The Italian churchman Giovanni Battista Pamphili is elected Pope Innocent X. He is pope until 1655. |
| 7 April 1655 | Papal States, Italy | Pope Alexander VII is elected following the death of Innocent X. |
| 20 June 1667 | Papal States, Italy | Pope Clement IX is elected, with French support, following the death of Pope Alexander VII. |
| 29 April 1670 | Papal States, Italy | Emilio Altieri is elected Pope Clement X following the death of Pope Clement IX. |
| 21 September 1676 | Papal States, Italy | Benedetto Odescalchi is elected Pope Innocent XI following the death of Pope Clement X. |
| 6 October 1689 | Papal States, Italy | Pope Alexander VIII is elected following the death of Pope Innocent XI. |
| 12 July 1691 | Papal States, Italy | Pope Innocent XII is elected following the death of Pope Alexander VIII. |
| 30 November 1700 | Papal States, Italy | The Italian churchman Giovanni Francesco Albani is elected Pope Clement XI, following the death of Pope Innocent XII. |
| 8 May 1721–7 March 1724 | Italy | Following the death of Pope Clement XI, and after a long and contentious conclave, Michelangelo dei Conti, son of the Duke of Poli, near Palestrina, Italy, is unanimously elected pope as Innocent XIII. |
| 1775 | Rome | The Italian churchman Giannangelo Braschi is elected Pope Pius VI. He is pope until 1799. |
| 12 May 1823 | UK | The Catholic Association is established in Ireland by the nationalist Daniel O'Connell to agitate for Catholic Emancipation (the removal of legal restrictions on Catholics) and independence. |
| 28 September 1823 | Italy | After the death of Pope Pius VII on 20 August, the Italian clergyman Annibale Sermattei Della Genga is elected Pope Leo XII. He is pope until 1829. |
| 31 March 1829 | Italy | After the death of Pope Leo XII on 10 February, the Italian clergyman Francesco Saverio Castiglioni is elected Pope Pius VIII. He is pope until 1830. |
| 15 June 1846 | Papal States | Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, at this time regarded as a liberal, is elected Pope Pius IX. |
| 8 December 1864 | Rome | A papal Syllabus Errorum/Syllabus of Errors condemns the errors of the 19th century – nationalism, naturalism, socialism, communism, and freemasonry. |
| 1869–1870 | Vatican | At the First Vatican council, a council of the Roman Catholic Church convened by Pope Pius IX, liberalism is condemned and the infallibility of the pope is asserted. |
| 18 July 1870 | Papal States | The Vatican council issues the ‘Declaration of Papal Infallibility’, declaring that papal pronouncements on spiritual questions are not questionable. |
| 7 July 1871 | Germany | The German government begins its Kulturkampf (cultural struggle) with the Catholic Church, when Chancellor Otto von Bismarck suppresses the Roman Catholic department for spiritual affairs. |
| 3 September 1914 | | Following the death of Pope Pius X on 20 August, the Italian clergyman Giacomo Della Chiesa is elected Pope Benedict XV. |
| 6 February 1922 | | Following the death of Pope Benedict XV on 22 January, the Italian clergyman Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti is elected Pope Pius XI. |
| 2 March 1939 | VATICAN | Following the death of Pope Pius XI on 10 February, Eugenio Pacelli is elected pope and takes the name Pius XII. |
| 1962–1965 | Vatican | The Second Vatican Council, a council of the Roman Catholic Church convened by Pope John XXIII, is held, its aim being to reform Catholic ministry and liturgy, and to seek reunion with other Christian denominations. |
| 21 June 1963 | Italy | After the death of Pope John XXIII on 3 June, the Italian clergyman Giovanni Battista Montini is elected Pope Paul VI. |
| 1971 | Switzerland | The Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng publishes Infallible? An Enquiry, a challenge to papal infallibility. |
| 26 November 1976 | Italy | Catholicism ceases to be the state religion of Italy. |
| 26 August 1978 | Vatican, Italy | Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, is elected pope. He takes the name John Paul I. |
| 16 October 1978 | Vatican | Following the deaths of Pope Paul VI on 6 August and his successor John Paul I on 28 September, Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Kraków, is elected as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope since 1522. |
| 1986 | Vatican, USA | The Vatican declares Father Charles Curran of the USA unfit to teach Catholic theology because of his writings on divorce, contraception, abortion, and homosexuality. |
| 5 May 1988 | USA | Eugene Antonio Marino is installed as archbishop of Atlanta, the first black Roman Catholic archbishop in the USA. |
| September 1988 | Vatican | Pope John Paul II reiterates his opposition to women priests in the Catholic Church in his Apostolic Letter ‘Mulieris Dignitatem’/‘The Dignity of Woman’. |
| 17 May 1989 | Poland | The Roman Catholic Church in Poland is given a status unparalleled in post-war Eastern Europe, with the restoration of property confiscated in the 1950s and the right to run schools. |
| 1 December 1989 | Vatican | Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the first leader of the USSR to visit the Vatican. He and Pope John Paul II agree to re-establish diplomatic relations between their states. |
| 1 July 1992 | USA | The Roman Catholic Church orders its US bishops to oppose any laws that promote the public acceptance of homosexuality. |
| 21 January 1998 | Cuba | Pope John Paul II visits Cuba for the first time, where he criticizes the repression of personal and religious freedoms under the communist government of President Fidel Castro. |
| 2–8 April 2005 | Vatican | At the end of a 27-year reign, the Polish- born Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) dies in the Vatican. Six days later, his funeral attracts 2 million mourners as well as heads of state from all around the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, becomes the first primate of the Protestant Church of England ever to attend a papal funeral. |
| 19 April 2005 | Vatican | The conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals elects Joseph Ratzinger, an orthodox conservative theologian, as the new Pope in succession to the deceased John Paul II. The German-born cardinal adopts the title of Benedict XVI. |
| 15 September 2006 | Germany | Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, delivers a lecture in Germany which includes a reference to a critical medieval text on Islam, provoking worldwide Muslim protests. The Vatican apologises for any unintentional offence. |
